New ads dispel misconceptions about personal injury lawyers

A series of new ads by the Personal Injury Alliance are part of a marketing campaign, but are also aimed at dispelling some of the misconceptions people might have about personal injury lawyers as a result of flashy ads run by U.S. firms, Toronto lawyer Alan Farrer tells Lawyers Weekly.

“It is, in large part, a marketing endeavour by the three firms, there’s no doubt about that,” Farrer, managing partner at Thomson, Rogers says of the new campaign by the PIA, which consists of three personal injury law firms: McLeish Orlando; Oatley, Vigmond; and Thomson, Rogers.

“But the secondary purpose is to help educate a lot of folks out there who are unable to get information that might inform them as how to best locate a personal injury lawyer,” he adds.

Farrer explains that the PIA has purposely geared the ads towards helping people figure out the type of services they might need and what type of firm can best provide them.

“We were uncomfortable really with the American-style of advertising: flashing the dollar signs and throwing out pictures of crash accidents and the big Batman-type ka-boom signs,” said Farrer, “so we tried a slightly different approach that we thought would be informative.”

Farrer tells Lawyers Weekly that the PIA was also careful to ensure that the ads fall within the rules of professional conduct.

While it is difficult to judge whether the ads have been effective, Farrer says he is pleased with the product.

“We’ve created a presence, we have heard anecdotally from many people that what we’ve been doing is informative and helpful and that’s always good.”